Nils serves as the Social Media Pastor at Community Bible Church leading the efforts of CBC Online. He has served in full-time ministry since graduating from Texas State University in San Marcos with a Business Management Degree and is currently pursuing a Masters in Ministry Leadership from Rockbridge Seminary.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Does Facebook work for you?

I’ve heard many people come up with reasons why Facebook doesn’t work for them. Here are some of those:

1) It is too time consuming.

2) I don’t have anything to share.

3) I don’t understand the point.

The reality in our world today is that Facebook seems to work for the 500 million users that are now active on this Social Media website. As a church member, I believe it is valuable to be connected on Facebook. Every day on Facebook I experience my friends and church family sharing life’s celebrations and well as many hurts that they are experiencing. It’s an incredible opportunity to experience church, deepening relationships far more than we can in one hour on Sundays.

I think the question that you need to ask is how do you make Facebook work for you? Here are some suggestions:

1) Be intentional with your time online. Set a minimum and a maximum on the amount of time you will be online. Many people will spend hours logged in every day and others will go weeks without logging on. Figure out what works for you and set some parameters so that you will be active without letting it consume you.

2) Don’t force content or even feel pressure to respond to others content. If you’re new to Facebook, I would encourage you to wait two weeks before posting anything beyond your profile. Take some time to add friends and experience the community around you. As you feel more comfortable on Facebook begin posting content, but until then just be intentional to know what’s going on in the lives of your friends and family. Wishing friends a Happy Birthday is a great place to start.

3) Respond to comments and messages. Facebook is a place to interact and not just post content and opinions. As friends seek to interact with you online, respond to them and continue the dialogue.

I hope that Facebook will begin working for you. Enjoy the joy that comes in deepening friendships and staying connected to friends all over the world.